Methods for avoiding inter-modulation distortion and communications apparatuses utilizing the same

ABSTRACT

A method for avoiding inter-modulation distortion in a communications apparatus capable of supporting carrier aggregation and communicating with a peer communications apparatus in a wireless network via at least a first CC and a second CC includes: determining a frequency adjustment value for adjusting a first oscillating frequency of a first local oscillation signal utilized for processing an RF signal of the first CC or a second oscillating frequency of a second LO signal utilized for processing an RF signal of the second CC when an RF signal or a baseband signal of the second CC is interfered with by an inter-modulation distortion signal contributed by any signal component related to the first CC; and adjusting the first oscillating frequency or the second oscillating frequency according to the frequency adjustment value.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/417,375 filed Apr. 11, 2016 and entitled “Method and Apparatus ofSelf-interference Handling for Supporting Carrier Aggregation”, and theentire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The invention relates to methods and apparatuses to avoidinter-modulation distortion.

Description of the Related Art

Due to advancements in mobile communication technology in recent years,various communication services, such as voice call services, datatransfer services, and video call services, etc., may be provided tousers regardless of their location. Most mobile communications systemsare multiple access systems in which access and wireless networkresources are allocated to multiple users. The multiple accesstechnologies employed by the mobile communications systems include the1× Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (1× CDMA 2000) technology, the 1×Evolution-Data Optimized (1× EVDO) technology, the Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (OFDM) technology, and the Long Term Evolution(LTE) technology. Evolved from the LTE, the LTE Advanced is a majorenhancement of the LTE standard. The LTE Advanced should be compatiblewith LTE equipment, and should share frequency bands with the LTEcommunications system. One of the important benefits of LTE Advanced isits ability to take advantage of advanced topology networks, whereinoptimized heterogeneous networks have a mix of macros with low powernodes such as picocells, temtocells and new relay nodes.

In addition, the LTE Advanced also introduces a multicarrier feature soas to be able to use ultra wide bandwidth, up to 100 MHz of a spectrumand support very high data rates. The multicarrier feature introduced inthe LTE Advanced is supported by Carrier Aggregation (CA). In CA, two ormore Component Carriers (CCs) are aggregated in order to provide widertransmission bandwidths up to 100 MHz. The CA can be applied toaggregate both contiguous and non-contiguous CCs. It is also possible toconfigure User Equipment (UE) to aggregate a different number of CCsoriginating from the same evolved Node B (eNB) and of possibly differentbandwidths in the uplink (UL) and the downlink (DL). The UE maysimultaneously receive or transmit radio frequency (RF) signals via oneor multiple CCs depending on its capabilities.

However, inter-modulation distortion (IMD) may occur to the UE due tohardware device's nonlinearity when CA technology is applied. Thereceiving performance of the UE may be seriously degraded when theinterference power is great. Therefore, methods and apparatuses to avoidthe IMD are highly required.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Communications apparatuses and methods for avoiding inter-modulationdistortion in a communications apparatus are provided. An exemplaryembodiment of a communications apparatus capable of supporting carrieraggregation and communicating with a peer communications apparatus in awireless network via at least a first component carrier (CC) and asecond CC comprises a radio frequency (RF) signal processing device anda baseband signal processing device. The RF signal processing deviceprocesses an RF signal of the first CC and an RF signal of the secondCC. The baseband signal processing device processes a baseband signal ofthe first CC and a baseband signal of the second CC. The RF signalprocessing device at least comprises a receiving (RX) frequencysynthesizer providing a first local oscillation (LO) signal oscillatedat a first oscillating frequency for processing the RF signal of thefirst CC and a second oscillating frequency for processing the RF signalof the second CC. The baseband signal processing device at leastcomprises a low intermedium frequency (IF) RX controller coupled to theRX frequency synthesizer, determining a frequency adjustment value foradjusting the first oscillating frequency or the second oscillatingfrequency and providing the frequency adjustment value to the RXfrequency synthesizer. The RX frequency synthesizer further adjusts thefirst oscillating frequency or the second oscillating frequencyaccording to the frequency adjustment value.

An exemplary embodiment of a method for avoiding inter-modulationdistortion in a communications apparatus capable of supporting carrieraggregation and communicating with a peer communications apparatus in awireless network via at least a first CC and a second CC includes:determining a frequency adjustment value for adjusting a firstoscillating frequency of a first local oscillation signal utilized forprocessing an RF signal of the first CC or a second oscillatingfrequency of a second LO signal utilized for processing an RF signal ofthe second CC when an RF signal or a baseband signal of the second CC isinterfered with by an inter-modulation distortion signal contributed byany signal component related to the first CC or the second CC; andadjusting the first oscillating frequency or the second oscillatingfrequency according to the frequency adjustment value.

A detailed description is given in the following embodiments withreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequentdetailed description and examples with references made to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communications apparatus according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a radio module according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of the signal processing devicescomprised in a radio module of a communications apparatus according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the IMD generated in a system withnonlinearities according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario forillustrating the undesired IMD signal;

FIG. 5B is a frequency spectrum showing another exemplary scenario forillustrating the undesired IMD signal;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for avoiding IMD in a communicationsapparatus according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario afteradjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7B is a frequency spectrum showing another exemplary scenario afteradjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal according toanother embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario ofadjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal when a blockersignal exists according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8B is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario ofadjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal when a blockersignal exists according to another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carryingout the invention. This description is made for the purpose ofillustrating the general principles of the invention and should not betaken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determinedby reference to the appended claims.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communications apparatus according toan embodiment of the invention. The communications apparatus 100 maycomprise one or more than one radio modules, such as radio modules 10and 20 as shown. Each radio module is arranged to provide apredetermined wireless communications service and may communicate with apeer communications apparatus (for example, a base station, a node-B, aneNB, an access point, or any other communications device) in acorresponding wireless network in compliance with a predeterminedprotocol of a predetermined Radio Access Technology (RAT). Note thatalthough there are two radio modules shown in FIG. 1, the inventionshould not be limited thereto. For example, in other embodiments of theinvention, the communications apparatus 100 may also comprise only one,or more than two radio modules. Therefore, the invention should not belimited to any specific implementation method.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the communicationsapparatus 100 may further comprise a controller 30. The controller 30 iscoupled to the one or more radio modules, such as the radio modules 10and 20, and may control operations of the communications apparatus 100and the radio modules. Note that although the controller 30 shown inFIG. 1 is configured outside of the radio modules, the invention shouldnot be limited thereto. For example, in other embodiments of theinvention, the controller may also be configured inside of a radiomodule, or may be integrated into any internal controller or processorof a radio module, or there may be no controller 30 comprised in theproposed communications apparatus. Therefore, the invention should notbe limited to any specific implementation method.

Note further that FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of the proposedcommunications apparatus to give a clear illustration of the concept ofthe invention. In other embodiments of the invention, the communicationsapparatus 100 may further comprise other hardware modules and/orcomponents not shown in FIG. 1, and the invention should not be limitedto what is shown in FIG. 1.

In addition, note further that, in the embodiments of the invention,when the communications apparatus 100 comprises more than one radiomodule, the radio modules may be implemented in different chips andcommunicate with each other via a specific interface disposedtherebetween, or may be integrated into one chip, such as an SoC (systemon chip), and connect to each other by internal wires. Therefore, theinvention should not be limited to any specific implementation method.

In the embodiments of the invention, the communications apparatus 100may be a notebook computer, a cellular phone, a portable gaming device,a portable multimedia player, a tablet computer, a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or others. Inaddition, in the embodiments of the invention, the radio module(s)comprised in the radio modules co-located in the communicationsapparatus 100 may include a Wi-Fi module, a Bluetooth module, a 2G/3G/4Gor LTE module, a BLE module, a BLR module, or others, for providing thecorresponding communications services in compliance with thecorresponding protocols.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a radio module according to anembodiment of the invention. The radio module 200 may comprise at leasta baseband signal processing device 110, a radio frequency (RF) signalprocessing device 120, a processor 130, a memory device 140, and anantenna module comprising at least one antenna. Note that, in order toclarify the concept of the invention, FIG. 2 presents a simplified blockdiagram in which only the elements relevant to the invention are shown.However, the invention should not be limited to what is shown in FIG. 2.For example, in some embodiments of the invention, the radio module 200may further be extended to comprise more than one antenna, and theinvention should not be limited to what is shown in FIG. 2.

The RF signal processing device 120 may receive RF signals via theantenna module and process the received RF signals to convert thereceived RF signals to baseband signals (that is, zero intermediumfrequency (IF)) or low IF signals to be processed by the baseband signalprocessing device 110, or receive baseband signals from the basebandsignal processing device 110 and convert the received baseband signalsto RF signals to be transmitted to a peer communications apparatus. TheRF signal processing device 120 may comprise a plurality of hardwareelements to perform radio frequency conversion. For example, the RFsignal processing device 120 may comprise a power amplifier, a mixer, orothers.

The baseband signal processing device 110 may process (for example,decode and demodulate) the baseband signals corresponding to the RFsignals processed by the RF signal processing device 120 to obtaininformation or data transmitted by the peer communications apparatus,and may process (for example, encode and modulate) uplink data to betransmitted to the peer communications apparatus as the baseband signalsand provide the baseband signals to the RF signal processing device 120.The baseband signal processing device 110 may also comprise a pluralityof hardware elements to perform baseband signal processing. The basebandsignal processing may comprise analog-to-digital conversion(ADC)/digital-to-analog conversion (DAC), gain adjustment,modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, and so on.

The processor 130 may control the operations of the baseband signalprocessing device 110, the RF signal processing device 120 and thememory device 140. According to an embodiment of the invention, theprocessor 130 may also be arranged to execute the program codes of thesoftware module(s) of the corresponding baseband signal processingdevice 110 and/or the RF signal processing device 120. The program codesaccompanied with specific data in a data structure may also be referredto as a processor logic unit or a stack instance when being executed.Therefore, the processor may be regarded as comprising a plurality ofprocessor logic units, each for executing one or more specific functionsor tasks of the corresponding software module(s). The memory device 140may store the software and firmware program codes, system data, userdata, etc. of the radio module 200.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary block diagram of the signal processing devicescomprised in a radio module of a communications apparatus according toan embodiment of the invention. The radio module 300 may comprise atleast a front end (FE) signal processing device 301, a RF transceiver302, a RF receiver 303, a receiving (RX) frequency synthesizer (SRX)304, a transmitting (TX) frequency synthesizer (STX) 305, adigital-to-analog converter (DAC) 306, analog-to-digital converters(ADC) 307 and 308, a digital baseband TX signal processing device (DBBTX) 309, digital baseband RX signal processing devices (DBB RX) 310 and311, and a low IF RX controller 312.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the radio module(s) (suchas the radio modules 10, 20, 200, and 300) comprised in the proposedcommunications apparatus 100 is/are capable of supporting CarrierAggregation (CA). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the radio module 300is capable of supporting at least the downlink CA since the radio module300 is capable of processing RF signals of two downlink componentcarriers (CCs) via the RF transceiver 302 and the RF receiver 303,respectively. For example, the RF transceiver 302 or the RF receiver 303(such as the RF transceiver 302) may be arranged to process the RFsignals of a primary CC (PCC) and the other one (such as the RF receiver303) may be arranged to process the RF signals of a secondary CC (SCC).Note that in the embodiments of the invention, the RF transceiver 302and the RF receiver 303 may be configured in a single chip, or may beconfigured in different chips, and the invention should not be limitedto any specific implementation method.

In addition, note further that the RF transceiver 302 and the RFreceiver 303 may both comprise a plurality of hardware devices forperforming RF signal processing. Depending on the type of CA (such asinter-band CA, intra-band non-contiguous CA and intra-band contiguousCA) implemented and the number of CCs configured by the network side,one or more hardware devices comprised in the RF transceiver 302 and/orthe RF receiver 303 may be shared for processing the RF signals ofdifferent CCs. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to anyspecific implementation method.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the FE signal processingdevice 301, the RF transceiver 302, the RF receiver 303, the SRX 304 andthe STX 305 may be comprised in the RF signal processing device 320 ofthe radio module 300, and the DAC 306, the ADCs 307 and 308, the DBB TX309, the DBB RX 310 and 311, and the low IF RX controller 312 may becomprised in the baseband signal processing device 310 of the radiomodule 300. Note that FIG. 3 just presents one of a variety ofembodiments to show some exemplary signal processing devices comprisedin a radio module. It should be understood that there may still be avariety of different hardware combinations and different types of signalprocessing devices comprised in a radio module of the proposedcommunications apparatus, and therefore, the invention should not belimited to what is shown in FIG. 3.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the FE signal processingdevice 301 may comprise a plurality of front end signal processingdevices for processing the RF signals received from the antenna module,such as one or more power amplifiers, switches, antenna selectionmodules, duplexers, or others. The RF transceiver 302 may comprise aplurality of RF signal processing devices for processing the TX signalsreceived from the DAC 306 and the RX signals received from the FE signalprocessing device 301, such as one or more low noise amplifiers, one ormore mixers, or others. The RF receiver 303 may comprise a plurality ofRF signal processing devices for processing the RX signals received fromthe FE signal processing device 301, such as one or more low noiseamplifiers, one or more mixers, or others. The SRX 304 is a frequencysynthesizer arranged to provide one or more local oscillation (LO)signals that oscillate at a desired frequency to the RF transceiver 302and the RF receiver 303 for processing the RX signals received from theFE signal processing device 301. For example, the LO signal may beprovided to the mixer comprised in the RF transceiver 302 and the RFreceiver 303 for frequency down converting the RX signals received fromthe FE signal processing device 301 to the baseband (that is, zero IF)or low IF signals to be processed by the baseband signal processingdevice 310. The STX 305 is a frequency synthesizer arranged to providelocal oscillation (LO) signal that is oscillated in desired frequency tothe RF transceiver 302 for processing the TX signals received from theDAC 306. For example, the LO signal may be provided to the mixercomprised in the RF transceiver 302 for frequency up converting the TXsignals received from the DAC 306 and to be further processed by the FEsignal processing device 301 and transmitted out by the antenna module.

The DAC 306 is configured to perform digital to analog conversion on thedigital signals received from the DBB TX 309. The ADC 307 is configuredto perform analog-to-digital conversion on the analog signals receivedfrom the RF transceiver 302. The ADC 308 is configured to performanalog-to-digital conversion on the analog signals received from the RFreceiver 303. The DBB TX 309 may comprise a plurality of baseband signalprocessing devices for processing the baseband TX signals to betransmitted to the DAC 306. The DBB RX 310 and 311 may also comprise aplurality of baseband and/or low IF signal processing devices forprocessing the baseband and/or low IF RX signals respectively receivedfrom the ADCs 307 and 308. The low IF RX controller 312 is coupled tothe DBB RX 310 and 311 and the SRX 304 for performing blocker detectionand determining the oscillating frequency of the LO signals provided bythe SRX 304 (which will be discussed further in the followingparagraphs). Note that in some embodiments of the invention, the low IFRX controller 312 may also be integrated in a processor (not shown) ofthe baseband signal processing device 310 or the corresponding radiomodule, and the invention should not be limited to any specificimplementation method.

It is well-known in the art that inter-modulation (IM) orinter-modulation distortion (IMD) is the amplitude modulation of signalscontaining two or more different frequencies in a system withnonlinearities. The intermodulation between each frequency componentwill form additional signals at frequencies that are not just atharmonic frequencies (integer multiples) of either, but also at the sumand difference frequencies of the original frequencies and at multiplesof those sum and difference frequencies. Therefore, the communicationsapparatus (such as the communications apparatus 100) may experience theIMD problem due to the hardware device's nonlinearity when CA technologyis applied. The receiving performance of communications apparatus may beseriously degraded when the interference power is great.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the IMD generated in a system withnonlinearities according to an embodiment of the invention. Suppose thatthe communications apparatus (such as the communications apparatus 100)is capable of supporting CA and communicating with a peer communicationsapparatus in a wireless network via at least a first CC and a second CC,and there are at least an LNA 401 and a mixer 402 comprised in a RXreceiver (such as the RF receiver 303 shown in FIG. 3) or a RFtransceiver (such as the RF transceiver 302 shown in FIG. 3) of thecommunications apparatus. Besides the RX signal of the first CC S_(Rx)_(_) _(cc1) that is desired for the RF transceiver, the LNA 401 mayfurther receive other undesired signals, such as the TX signal S_(TX) tobe transmitted by the RF transceiver (and/or its harmonics), the LOsignal provided by the STX (and/or its harmonics), and/or a referencesignal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) comprised inthe STX and utilized for generating the LO signal S_(Tx) _(_) _(LO/VCO),(and/or its harmonics), the RX signal of the second CC S_(RX) _(_)_(CC2) that is supposed to be processed by another RX receiver (such asthe RF receiver 303 shown in FIG. 3), and/or others. The undesiredsignals may be “leaked” into the LNA 401 via either a coupling path(that is, via no physical wire or trace) or a direct connecting path(that is, via a physical wire or trace).

Due to the nonlinearities of the LNA 401 and the mixer 402, the IMD maybe generated by the undesired signals S_(TX), S_(TX) _(_) _(LO/VCO),S_(Rx) _(_) _(cc2), and/or other undesired signals leaked into the LNA401. Therefore, after being processed by the LNA 401 and the mixer 402,not only is the desired signal S_(Desired) _(_) _(CC1) generated, butalso the undesired signals (represented by S_(IMD) for simplicity) willbe generated. When any undesired signal S_(IMD) falls in the frequencyrange of the desired channel of the desired signal S_(Desired) _(_)_(CC1), interference occurs.

FIG. 5A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario forillustrating the undesired IMD signal. Suppose that the LO frequency ofthe LO signal provided to the corresponding mixer for performingfrequency up or down conversion on the corresponding TX or RX signal isrespectively set to the central frequency of a desired channel of the TXsignal, or of the RX signal the first/second CC. In the scenario shownin FIG. 5A, when the frequency spacing between the LO frequency f_(Tx)of the LO signal provided for processing the TX signal and the LOfrequency f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2) of the LO signal provided for processingthe RX signal of the second CC, and the LO frequency f_(RXLO) _(_)_(CC2) of the LO signal provided for processing the RX signal of thesecond CC and the LO frequency f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC1) of the LO signalprovided for processing the RX signal of the first CC are both Δ f, athird-order inter-modulation distortion (labeled IMD3) term falls in thedesired channel of the first CC since 2* f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)−1*f_(RXLO)_(_) _(CC1).

FIG. 5B is a frequency spectrum showing another exemplary scenario forillustrating the undesired IMD signal. In the scenario as shown in FIG.5B, when the frequency of a reference signal generated by the VCO andutilized for generating the LO signal for the second CC is twice of thefrequency of the LO signal for the second CC, a second-orderinter-modulation distortion (labeled IMD2) term falls in the desiredchannel of the first CC since 1* f_(VCO CC2)−1*f_(TX)=f_(RXLO CC1).Another IMD2 term contributed by a second-order harmonic of the LOsignal for the second CC will also fall in the desired channel of thefirst CC since 1* 2^(nd)f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)−1*f_(TX)=f_(RXLO) _(_)_(CC1).

When any undesired signal falls in the frequency range of the desiredchannel of a desired signal, interference occurs. The receivingperformance of communications apparatus may be seriously degraded whenthe interference power is great. In order to solve this problem, methodsfor avoiding IMD in a communications apparatus are proposed andillustrated in the following paragraphs.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method for avoiding IMD in a communicationsapparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. According to theembodiments of the invention, the communications apparatus (such as thecommunications apparatus 100) is capable of supporting CA andcommunicating with a peer communications apparatus in a wireless networkvia at least a first CC and a second CC. When an RF signal or a basebandsignal of the second CC is detected as being interfered with by an IMDsignal that is contributed by any signal component related to the firstCC or the second CC, or other signals as described above, thecommunications apparatus may determine a frequency adjustment valuef_(ADJ) for adjusting a first oscillating frequency of a first localoscillation (LO) signal utilized for processing an RF signal of thefirst CC or a second oscillating frequency of a second LO signalutilized for processing an RF signal of the second CC (Step S602). Next,the communications apparatus may adjust the first oscillating frequencyor the second oscillating frequency according to the frequencyadjustment value f_(ADJ) (Step S604). Note that in the embodiments ofthe invention, whether to adjust the first oscillating frequency or thesecond oscillating frequency may be determined based on how the IMD iscaused.

The concept of how to determine the first or second oscillatingfrequency to be adjusted is to select the one (or more) that can makethe IMD signal to be moved out from the desired channel of the second CCafter the frequency adjustment. Therefore, the CC with the correspondingoscillating frequency being/to be adjusted is not limited to the CCbeing interfered-with or the CC that causes the IMD signal.

According to an embodiment of the invention, when any undesired IMDsignal falls in the frequency range of the desired channel of a desiredsignal of a specific CC, the desired signal (which can be either the RFsignal or the baseband signal) of the specific CC is determined as beinginterfered with by the IMD signal. In addition, the communicationsapparatus may determine whether any undesired IMD signal falls in thefrequency range of the desired channel of a desired signal of a specificCC according to the frequency ranges of the desired channel of a desiredsignal of the specific CCs (hereinafter called the interfered-with CC)and the frequency ranges of the signal component(s) related to the otherCC(s) (hereinafter called the interfering CC). Note that, in theembodiments of the invention, the interfered-with CC may also interferedby the signal components contributed by itself. Therefore, theinterfered-with CC may also be the interfering CC as well. The IMDmainly comes from a combination of the TX signal of some CC and LOsignal (and/or corresponding harmonics) of other CC. That is, it mayoccur that when the IMD signal produced by the TX signal of a CCinterferes with the RX signal of that CC.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the signal component thatis related to an interfering CC may be selected from a group comprisingthe LO signal for the interfering CC, a harmonic of the LO signal, areference signal utilized for generating the LO signal and a harmonic ofthe reference signal. For example, the signal component that is relatedto a first CC and may cause the IMD may be selected from a groupcomprising the first LO signal, a harmonic of the first LO signal, areference signal utilized for generating the first LO signal (forexample, the reference signal generated by the corresponding VCO) and aharmonic of the reference signal.

To be more specific, in an embodiment of the invention, the low IF RXcontroller (such as the low IF RX controller 312 shown in FIG. 3) of thecommunications apparatus may determine whether to adjust the oscillatingfrequency of an LO signal utilized for processing the RF signal of theinterfering CC or the oscillating frequency of an LO signal utilized forprocessing the RF signal of the interfered-with CC, determine adirection in which to adjust (for example by decreasing or increasing)the corresponding oscillating frequency, determine the frequencyadjustment value f_(ADJ), and provide the frequency adjustment valuef_(ADJ) to the corresponding frequency synthesizer generating the LOsignal (such as the SRX 304 shown in FIG. 3) for processing the RFsignal of the interfering CC or the RF signal of the interfered-with CC.

The frequency synthesizer receiving the frequency adjustment valuef_(ADJ) may then adjust the oscillating frequency of the LO signalaccording to the frequency adjustment value f_(ADJ). Note that the lowIF RX controller may also directly direct the frequency synthesizer toadjust the oscillating frequency of the LO signal and teach thefrequency synthesizer how to adjust it.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the oscillating frequencyof the LO signal for processing the RF signal of a CC is originally setto be equal to the central frequency of a desired channel of that CC.After adjusting the oscillating frequency, the oscillating frequencydoes not equal the central frequency of the desired channel of that CC.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the invention, the low IF RXcontroller may determine the frequency adjustment value according to abandwidth of a desired channel of the interfered-with CC (for example,the first CC in the scenario shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B). In apreferred embodiment of the invention, the frequency adjustment valuef_(ADJ) is substantially equal to half the bandwidth of a desiredchannel of the interfered-with CC.

FIG. 7A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario afteradjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of the interferingCC (for example, the second CC in the scenario shown in FIG. 5A and FIG.5B) according to an embodiment of the invention. Suppose that thebandwidth of the desired channel of the interfered-with CC (for example,the first CC in the scenario shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B) is BW and thefrequency adjustment value f_(ADJ) equals half the bandwidth BW. Whenthe LO frequency f_(RXLO CC2) of the LO signal provided for processingthe RX signal of the second CC is adjusted by decreasing BW/2, that is,f′_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)=f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)−BW/2, the third-orderinter-modulation distortion (labeled IMD3) term can be moved out fromthe desired channel of the first CC as shown in FIG. 7A.

FIG. 7B is a frequency spectrum showing another exemplary scenario afteradjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of the interferingCC (for example, the second CC in the scenario shown in FIG. 5A and FIG.5B) according to another embodiment of the invention. When the LOfrequency f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2) of the LO signal provided for processingthe RX signal of the second CC is adjusted by increasing BW/2, that is,f″_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)=f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2)+BW/2, the third-orderinter-modulation distortion (labeled IMD3) term can also be moved outfrom the desired channel of the first CC as shown in FIG. 7B.

Note that, although setting the frequency adjustment value f_(ADJ) tohalf the bandwidth of a desired channel of the interfered-with CC is apreferred embodiment, the invention should not be limited thereto. Inother embodiments of the invention, the frequency adjustment valuef_(ADJ) may also be set to another value, depending on the differentsystem requirements.

Note further that, although in the exemplary scenarios shown in FIG. 7Aand FIG. 7B, the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of the second CCis adjusted, the invention should not be limited thereto. As discussedabove, the low IF RX controller may also determine to adjust theoscillating frequency of the LO signal of the first CC (i.e. theinterfered CC in the exemplary scenarios shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B),as long as the IMD term can also be moved out from the desired channelof the first CC.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the low IF RXcontroller (such as the low IF RX controller 312 shown in FIG. 3) of thecommunications apparatus may also perform a blocker detection to detectwhether a blocker signal exists and is distributed around a desiredchannel of a CC. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, thelow IF RX controller may receive the baseband signal of one CC anddetect whether the blocker signal exists and is distributed around thedesired channel of that CC according to a frequency and power of theblocker signal in the baseband signal of that CC.

When the blocker signal exists and is distributed around the desiredchannel of a CC, the low IF RX controller may determine a direction inwhich to adjust the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of that CCaccording to the frequency of the blocker signal. Since the bandwidth ofa filter utilized for filtering the desired signal of one CC should beincreased accordingly when the oscillating frequency of the LO signal ofthat CC is adjusted, some undesired blocker signal distributed aroundthe desired channel of that CC will be left in the filtered signal afterthe filtering process of the desired signal of that CC. Therefore, inthe embodiments of the invention, the direction in which to adjust theoscillating frequency of the LO signal of that CC should be carefullyconsidered so that the blocker signal distributed around the desiredchannel of that CC can be filtered out and will not be left in thefiltered signal after the filtering process. According to an embodimentof the invention, the blocker signal may be an adjacent channelinterference of that CC.

FIG. 8A is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario ofadjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of the one CC whena blocker signal exists according to an embodiment of the invention.Suppose there is a blocker signal distributed around the desired channelof the second CC CC2. As shown in FIG. 8A, if the low IF RX controllerdetermines to decrease the oscillating frequency f_(RXLO) _(_) _(CC2) ofthe LO signal of the CC as f″_(RXLO CC2), the blocker signal stillinevitably falls the passband 801 of a filter utilized for filtering thedesired signal of the second CC CC2. Therefore, even if the IMD signalterm can also be moved out from the desired channel of the first CC CC1,the filtered signal of the second CC CC2 is still interfered with by theblocker signal.

FIG. 8B is a frequency spectrum showing an exemplary scenario ofadjusting the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of one CC when ablocker signal exists according to another embodiment of the invention.According to an embodiment of the invention, the low IF RX controllermay determine to increase or decrease the oscillating frequency of theLO signal of one CC by the frequency adjustment value f_(ADJ).Preferably, when the central frequency of the blocker signal is smallerthan the central frequency of the desired channel of that CC, the low IFRX controller determines to increase the oscillating frequency of the LOsignal of that CC by the frequency adjustment value. As shown in FIG.8B, by increasing the oscillating frequency of the LO signal of that CC,the blocker signal becomes far away from the adjusted oscillatingfrequency f″_(RXLO CC2), and can be moved outside of the passband 802 ofa filter utilized for filtering the desired signal of that CC.Therefore, the blocker signal can be filtered out more easily after thefiltering process and will not become an interference signal anymore. Onthe other hand, when the central frequency of the blocker signal isgreater than the central frequency of the desired channel of that CC,the low IF RX controller determines to decrease the oscillatingfrequency of the LO signal of that CC by the frequency adjustment value.Similarly, by decreasing the oscillating frequency of the LO signal ofthat CC, the blocker signal can be moved outside of the passband of afilter utilized for filtering the desired signal of that CC. Therefore,the blocker signal can be filtered out more easily after the filteringprocess and will not become an interference signal anymore.

Based on the proposed method and the corresponding hardware componentsimplementing the method, the undesired IMD term can no longer interferewith the desired signal of each CC utilized in CA. In addition, whendetermining a preferred direction in which to further adjust theoscillating frequency according to the blocker detection result, theblocker signal can also be filtered out more easily after the filteringprocess and will not become an interference signal anymore.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms ofpreferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still makevarious alterations and modifications without departing from the scopeand spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the presentinvention shall be defined and protected by the following claims andtheir equivalents.

1. A communications apparatus, capable of supporting carrier aggregationand communicating with a peer communications apparatus in a wirelessnetwork via at least a first component carrier (CC) and a second CC,comprising: a radio frequency (RF) signal processing device, processingan RF signal of the first CC and an RF signal of the second CC; and abaseband signal processing device, processing a baseband signal of thefirst CC and a baseband signal of the second CC, wherein the RF signalprocessing device at least comprises: a receiving (RX) frequencysynthesizer, providing a first local oscillation (LO) signal oscillatedat a first oscillating frequency for processing the RF signal of thefirst CC and a second oscillating frequency for processing the RF signalof the second CC, and wherein the baseband signal processing device atleast comprises: a low intermedium frequency (IF) RX controller, coupledto the RX frequency synthesizer, determining a frequency adjustmentvalue for adjusting the first oscillating frequency or the secondoscillating frequency and providing the frequency adjustment value tothe RX frequency synthesizer, and wherein the RX frequency synthesizerfurther adjusts the first oscillating frequency or the secondoscillating frequency according to the frequency adjustment value,wherein the low IF RX controller further detects whether a blockersignal exists and is distributed around a desired channel of thefirst/second CC, and when the blocker signal exists and is distributedaround the desired channel of the first/second CC, the low IF RXcontroller determines a direction in which to adjust the first/secondoscillating frequency according to a frequency of the blocker signal,and wherein when a central frequency of the blocker signal is greaterthan a central frequency of the desired channel of the first/second CC,the low IF RX controller determines to decrease the first/secondoscillating frequency by the frequency adjustment value, and when thecentral frequency of the blocker signal is smaller than the centralfrequency of the desired channel of the first/second CC, the low IF RXcontroller determines to increase the first/second oscillating frequencyby the frequency adjustment value.
 2. The communications apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein when the low IF RX controller detects thatthe RF signal or the baseband signal of the second CC is interfered withby an inter-modulation distortion (IMD) signal, the low IF RX controllerdetermines to adjust the first oscillating frequency or the secondoscillating frequency, determines the frequency adjustment value andprovides the frequency adjustment value to the RX frequency synthesizer.3. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein afteradjusting the first/second oscillating frequency according to thefrequency adjustment value, the first/second oscillating frequency doesnot equal a central frequency of a desired channel of the first/secondCC.
 4. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein whenthe low IF RX controller determines that the IMD signal is contributedby any signal component related to the first/second CC, the low IF RXcontroller determines to adjust the first oscillating frequency or thesecond oscillating frequency and determines the frequency adjustmentvalue according to a bandwidth of a desired channel of the second CC. 5.The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the signalcomponent related to the first/second CC is selected from a groupcomprising the first/second LO signal, a harmonic of the first/second LOsignal, a reference signal utilized for generating the first/second LOsignal and a harmonic of the reference signal.
 6. The communicationsapparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frequency adjustment valueis substantially equal to half a bandwidth of a desired channel of thesecond CC.
 7. The communications apparatus as claimed in claim 1,wherein the RX frequency synthesizer increases or decreases thefirst/second oscillating frequency by the frequency adjustment value toadjust the first/second oscillating frequency.
 8. (canceled)
 9. Thecommunications apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the low IF RXcontroller further receives the baseband signal of the first/second CCand detects whether the blocker signal exists and is distributed aroundthe desired channel of the first/second CC according to a frequency andpower of the blocker signal in the baseband signal of the first/secondCC.
 10. (canceled)
 11. A method for avoiding inter-modulation distortion(IMD) in a communications apparatus capable of supporting carrieraggregation and communicating with a peer communications apparatus in awireless network via at least a first component carrier (CC) and asecond CC, comprising: determining a frequency adjustment value foradjusting a first oscillating frequency of a first local oscillation(LO) signal utilized for processing an RF signal of the first CC or asecond oscillating frequency of a second LO signal utilized forprocessing an RF signal of the second CC when an RF signal or a basebandsignal of the second CC is interfered with by an inter-modulationdistortion (IMD) signal contributed by any signal component related tothe first CC or the second CC; detecting whether a blocker signal existsand is distributed around a desired channel of the first/second CC; whenthe blocker signal exists and is distributed around the desired channelof the first/second CC, determining a direction in which to adjust thefirst/second oscillating frequency according to a frequency of theblocker signal; and adjusting the first oscillating frequency or thesecond oscillating frequency according to the frequency adjustmentvalue, wherein when a central frequency of the blocker signal is greaterthan a central frequency of the desired channel of the first/second CC,the first/second oscillating frequency is adjusted by decreasing thefirst/second oscillating frequency by the frequency adjustment value,and when the central frequency of the blocker signal is smaller than thecentral frequency of the desired channel of the first/second CC, thefirst/second oscillating frequency is adjusted by increasing thefirst/second oscillating frequency by the frequency adjustment value.12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein after adjusting thefirst/second oscillating frequency according to the frequency adjustmentvalue, the first/second oscillating frequency is not equal to a centralfrequency of a desired channel of the first/second CC.
 13. The method asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the frequency adjustment value isdetermined according to a bandwidth of a desired channel of the secondCC.
 14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the frequencyadjustment value is substantially equal to half of a bandwidth of adesired channel of the second CC.
 15. (canceled)
 16. The method asclaimed in claim 11, wherein the existence and distribution of theblocker signal are detected according to the frequency and power of theblocker signal in a baseband signal of the first/second CC. 17.(canceled)
 18. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the signalcomponent related to the first/second CC is selected from a groupcomprising the first/second LO signal, a harmonic of the first/second LOsignal, a reference signal utilized for generating the first/second LOsignal and a harmonic of the reference signal.